I understand the devastating grief one may experience when their beloved pet dies. I suffered extreme losses in a 6 year period, my infant twins, my father and Great Dane weeks apart, my husband then my Great Dane/Lab mix 4 days before my husband's funeral, then my one remaining child 5 months after my husband died. I found that I grieved each death differently, each represents a different relationship. For me personally, my most devastating loss was my youngest child. His death represented in some ways, a finality of my life. He was the bridge between my past (Daddy) my present (husband) and my future (his future children and our family legacy). Family heirlooms are meaningless. Carrying on important family traditions no longer hold the same emotion. I held fierce love for all the other family members, including my dogs, but my last remaining child is a grief that will haunt me until the day I die.

Grief is devastating, and no one should ever judge the intensity or duration. I am passing no judgement, because it is clear you loved your cat as I loved my dogs. I understand your pain, and I send my sympathies to you.

In my opinion, people fear death and grieving. I think not enough is done in this country to respect and honor grief, to teach people how to respond to those drowning in grief and to teach those grieving how to move forward with their loved one's memory in a healthy way.